Improvement in fences



AJJ. MARKS.- Fence.

No. 217,391. Patented July 8,1879.

HER. WASHINGTON. n c.

N. PETERS. PHOTO-UTN "UNITED S TAT-ns PATENT OFFICE.;

ANDREW J. MARKS, OF BEAVER, PENNSYLVANIA. v

l| M PROVEMEN' lN FENCES.

Speciiicationibrming part of Letters Patent No. 217,391, dated July 8, 1879; application filedV February 27, 1879.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. MARKS, of Beaver, of Beaver county, in the State of Pennsylvan ia, have invented a certain new and use'- Vful Improvement in Fences, of which the following specification is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompany'ing drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the fence. Figs. 2 and 5 are plan views, and Figs. 3 and et are perspective views of details. Fig. 6 is a vertical transverse section on line fr .r of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is aside elevation of panel adapted to use as a gate.

This invention relates to improvements in Letters Patent No. 197 ,875, granted to me De- 4cember 4, 1877; and consists in fitting the ends of the panels with vertical bars, and binding the panels together with horizontal bolts passed through the overlapping bars of the adjacent panels, the bottoms being joined by sills and wedges, as in my previous patent, the several parts being constructed and combined as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

' My object is to produce a fence which can be used either as portable or permanent, isv

easily made, can be placed on any kind of land withoutdigging post-holes, is strong and durable, and as cheap as it is possible for a fence to be. To these ends I construct as`follows: The panels AA A are preferably made up of horizontal boards a a', &c.,having oneor more cleats or binders, b b', &c., between the ends, though they may also be made up of pallngs v or otherwise. At the ends of each panel are,

respectively, a vertical strip or bar, c, rectangular 1n section, ,and a vertical beveled strip vor bar, d, as shown in Fig. 2.

As in my former patent, I use the transverse sills B, at such distances apart as will bring them under the end bars of the panels. These sills B have, as before, a transverse groove, f, with inclined faces, forming a wedge-shaped recess, as shown. A bolt-hole is cut through the top portions of the various vertical bars which form the ends of the panels, and bolts g tted thereto of vsuch length as to pass through both end bars of two adjoining panels.

The fence is put together in the' following manner: The sills B are laid, first, simply on the ground, with the grooves uppermost. The

bolt through, as shown.

panel A is then placed so that its end bars rest 'in the sill-grooves." The panel A is next placed j bracing to the whole panel, so that when fastened above by the horizontal bolts, and below by the wedges and sills7 the entire fence is as rigid as if made of one piece. the angle of bevel on the bars d, the amount of worm may be varied; or, by making these bars rectan guiar, thefence maybe built straight, depending then upon the transverse sills for its stability against wind-storms or shocks; but by giving sufficient bevel to bars d, the fence may be made strong enough to stand iirmly against any storm or pressure, however great.

In practice Imake all the horizontal and vertical bars of the fence out of one size of lumber, so that no work is required beyond sawing them to length and nailing them together. The beveled bars are best made by taking a suitably-sized piece of lumber and dividing it on a bevel, thus making two bars at once. All that remains is to make the sills and wedges. Thus the whole fence may be made indoors and carried to its place on the farm. Y The construction is `so simple that, having the lumber and a saw, a farmer can make and 4put 4up my fence in about the same time it would take him to dig post-holesfor an ordi nary fence;

I make a corner by turning the vertical bar d at right angles to its panel, and passing the The bottom'is xed in a diagonal sill having wedge-shaped grooves at right angles to each other, the panels resting each in its own groove, and a separate wedge is driven into each.

To make a harvest-gateat any given panel, I simply attach a counter-balance, W, to the panel on the opposite side of the bolt by prolonging the top rail, or by a suitable fitting.

According to I n this manner a perfect automatic gate is obtained. As soon as the wedges are knocked out or loose and the one bolt removed, all of which takes but a moment, the panel rises vertically on the other bolt, as a pintle, and the opening is made.

In the course of time, should the ends of the boards rot away, they can be cut oil', retted, and the fence thus madeas good as new, with but a trifle of shortening, which can be compensated by the addition of one or more new panels. This cannot be done with a post-andrail fence, on account of the posts being permanently placed at a certain distance apart.

I claim as my invention- 1. The herein-described fence, consisting of panels A A', Sto., each having the vertical rectangular end bar c and the vertical beveled end bar d, overlapping each other. at an angle, and fastened together above by the horizontal bolts g and nuts, and .below by the diagonally wedge-grooved sills B and wedges h, all sub- ANDRE W J. MARKS.

Witnesses: Y

JOHN M. PATTERSON, T. J. MGTIGHE. 

